Posted Tuesday, March 13, 2012 @ 04:35 PM
I first made the acquaintance of RM in March 1973 when she was barely one year old. I had just gained my RAF wings and, having sat the civilian air law exam, was issued with a CAA PPL. Presumably us RAF types didn’t have to worry too much about air civilian law! My parents house was a mile north of the famous Battle of Britian airfield at Biggin Hill, In my childhood I recall regularly seeing crashed DeHavilland Meteors being dragged out of the field at the bottom of the garden! Being an impecunious Pilot Officer in 1973, I went to Biggin Hill with my shiny new PPL and found Sportair, operating Fourniers at very reasonable rates. My logbook indicates that after a couple of check flights I made my first civilian solo flight in ... G-AZRM! After a few hours of Fournicating at Biggin Hill I was posted to Scotland, which put a temprary holt to Fournier activities. There, I bought into the Fulmar RF3 syndicate (see Donald’s thread) but that’s another story.
G-AZRM, first registered in March 1972, was not owned by Sportair but was one of several privately owned Fourniers accomodated at Biggin Hill and used by Sportair club members. Brian Stevens, one of the directors of Sportair, has kindly given me some information about her early history, having collected RM and RK from the factory at Dahlemer Binz.
Unfortunately the original logbooks are missing but the G-INFO website gives the first owner as Down Park Estates Limited of Crawley Down, a few miles to the south of Biggin Hill. A rather grainy press cutting on Brian Stevens’ website shows that in July 1972 she participated in a London to Edinburgh and return air race between two aircraft and two cars.
Brian gave me more information about the ‘Martini Challenge’, which started when Brian rather mischeviously bet some of the top members of the BARC - British Automobile Racing Club, that a Fournier could do the jorney from London to Edinburgh in half the time of a car, using no more fuel . To make it more interesting they included a 4 seat Robin Petit Prince as well and matched the two aircraft against a 2 seat MGB and a Ford Capri. The Fournier used was RM. The event was sponsored by Martini and officially scrutineered by the Royal Aero Club. Brian thinks that the official observer in the back of RM was the Formula One racing driver Jodi Scheckter! The aircraft, of course, beat the cars hansomly on time and RM, at 42mpg was more economical on fuel. The Robin, at 23mpg rather lagged the Ford Capri in this respect.
You can see more about the Martini Challenge and other Fournier memorabilia on Brian's website
http://picasaweb.google.com/brianjacare/SportairAndTheFourniers
I asked Brian what route they flew and he said they just drew a straight line on a map – which takes you over central London! When I queried this, Brian obliged with a photo of Buckingham Palace off RM’s wingtip - Couldn’t do that today!
And here’s a photo of RM at the BigginHill Air Fair in 1976
In 1978 RM was sold to Rosemary Anne Lloyd-Bostock of Cowfold, West Sussex. In 1983 I returned to civilian life and moved to Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex; by coincidence only a few miles east of Cowfold. Finances put paid to flying for a while, but I recall regulary seeing a Fournier RF5 climbing out from a farm strip a mile or so east of my house, never realising that it was RM. I have no information of it’s activity during this time.
In 1988 RM passed to Ron Speer and Aurther Dearden and moved to the East Sussex Gliding Club at Ringmer. She had, by this stage, been moved from a Certificate of Airworthiness to a PFA permit to fly ; the first logbook entry mentioning a Permit to Fly renewal was in May 1980 with 2500 airframe hours. Since that time she has flown a further 2000 hours and had 3 engine rebuilds. In 1990, having flown 3100 hours, Ron stripped off the fabric and recovered the aircraft.
RM in September 2007 (Photo by Bob Grimstead)
Most of her flying has been in the UK, but since I’ve been part owner, she has ventured further afield, with several trips to France, two to Italy and visits to Germany and Belgium. Flying to Itay involves crossing some fairly high passes and operating out of rather higher airfields than we are used to in the UK and we learned about the effects of density altitude, particularly with a slight lack of compression on one cylinder!
RM crossing Co de Larche in the French Alps between Gap and Eugenio's airfield at Envie.
[Edit by Mike-RM on Tuesday, March 13, 2012 @ 04:37 PM]
[Edit by Mike-RM on Tuesday, March 13, 2012 @ 04:42 PM]